


all the static will break into yesterday (or so we say)

by paopuleaf



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Found Family, Gen, Letters, copious swears, playing fast and loose with proper formatting, shadows fk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:00:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29935170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paopuleaf/pseuds/paopuleaf
Summary: a series of letters in various formats between four shadowed players, after the crabs come down.
Relationships: Robbins Schmitt & Axel Campbell & Squid Galvanic & Jacoby Podcast
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	all the static will break into yesterday (or so we say)

**Author's Note:**

> squid uses she/its, axel uses he/him, jacoby uses they/them and robbins uses kit/kits or vae/vaem !

_hi, squid,_

_uh. don't know if you're getting this! don't know where you're bunking, exactly, but the stadium led me somewhere and i listened. per usual. fucker's cryptic about it, but the walls didn't cave in against my hand when i carved new eyes for axel, so._

_we're out of… the bad stadium. still in the shadows, but we can explore baltimore, and go places, and the stadium is here but we can leave. we can leave, squid, it's fucking insane, can you believe that? over two decades of this shit and then bam! fuck, i guess! could we have been doing this the whole time?_

_axel says no. jacoby's on their way to you, so look out for that, i guess. i hope you told the crabs to fuck right off but i also kinda hope you didn't and you're getting along. i don't want you to be alone._

_fuck. can i scribble that out? axel isn't letttting me asshole STOP THAT-_

[part of the page is ripped.]

_anyway. if you want us to visit just say the word, uh. none of us have a house. we're kind of just fucking around and finding out? axel bought a car. kind of. we stole it don't snitch fucker i'll get you and that's a promise._

_i hope you like the care package. i miss you. i'll break out of this hell role soon, promise. love you. don't forget about us when you get big and hit the ball a whole bunch, i'll never forgive you._

_see ya,_

_robbins_

-

_Hey, Squid._

_Robbins told me to write you a letter too even though kit already wrote one. Now kit's hanging on my shoulder as I write and peeking and it's extremely fucking rude of kit-_

_That scared kit off. I think you probably already know, but we're not in the Stadium anymore. Not in the one you knew. The one that we knew, I guess. I can't feel the eyes in there anymore, and it's a little scary. Some of those were used almost as much as my old ones. Feels like losing a limb._

_I think it's gone. I don't think we're going back. We get to live now, actually live, for the first time in decades. Decades, Squid, god. I don't even know if I want to get out of the Shadows anymore, now that they're not like they were. We're just here, Squid, we're just…_

_We stole a car. We don't have homes, or jobs, or money, really. Or family. Besides you and Robbins and Jacoby, obviously. I'm still blind without carved eyes, or Robbins' jacket. But we're out._

_It feels nice. I hope you feel it too, even when you're playing this… fucked up stupid splort. We miss you over here. I'm trying to convince Robbins to go to a game Jacoby's pitching so we can see both of you, but kit doesn't want to see the crabs._

_I don't know if I want to see the crabs, either. I know it's different for you, and for Jacoby, but… I don't know. What would I even say? "Hi, crabs, I was trapped in your stadium and your shadow for over a decade and then you all abandoned us for a decade longer?" Somehow, I don't think that would be a good conversation starter._

_We can keep being pen pals if you don't want to see us in person. The care packages are nice to put together. I love you, okay? Stay safe out there. I don't think We could forgive you if you got incinerated right after leaving, and neither could Robbins. I think we would be more sad than anything, though._

_Extend the message to Jacoby? Oh, and tell them we got their tapes. They were wonderful. We'd write letters to them, but they're still in-between right now. They'll probably be in active play by the time you're reading this._

_You're wonderful, Squid. Our practice will pay off for you, I promise. I wish I could be out there pitching for you still, but I love that you get to do it anyway. You're going to be amazing._

_If the crabs are ever mean to you, you know who to call. And if they're nice, I'd love to hear you talk about them._

_Love,_

_Axel._

-

"Hi! Hello, hello, testing, testing… audio levels are normal, oh- _kay_! Hi! It's Jacoby, and if you're hearing this, I'm out of the shadows! Into active play I go." There's a few staticky taps, like someone clicking nails against glass. "Robbins, Axel, I hope you're both together when you're hearing this. If not, wait until you are! This message is for both of you.

"I know I wasn't around for as long as you both. I know I shouldn't be the one getting out right now, but I'm really happy I am, and I'm not going to lie. I can clawmentate, I can meet the crabs, I can _play._ But it won't be the same without you two. I'm going to miss you."

The tape rewinds, a little. "Miss you. I hope it gets better. I'll get you both out of there, okay? I'm lovable, and small, and sneaky, so whatever plan I have will work perfectly. Aw, man, I can _feel_ Robbins rubbing off on me.

"I love you guys! I'll send down updates when I can, I know I was- kind of the only information hub there. Stay safe, don't let the cameras bite! See you soon!"

Click.

-

The video starts to roll. It's staticky around the edges, and blurry, like it's being taken underwater. As Squid drifts into view, bubbles coming out of her mouth, it is _extremely_ obvious it is actually being taken underwater.

"Jacoby said I'd never get to work this down here," it says, muffled, "but this shows them! Anyway, they'll be seeing this. You'll all be seeing this, hopefully! Hi, Robbins, Axel, Jacoby!"

"I'm gone. Or, I'm gonna be gone, really soon! It's scary, I'm scared, but they're calling me up to join the crabs before they come Down, and I'm excited, too!" Squid shakes its head, blinking rapidly as coral-red hair drifts away from her eyes. "I won't have enough time for a real goodbye. I know I want one, but I'm hoping this is good enough, right? Right!"

Squid's face twists, like it's about to cry but can't quite through all the water. "I'm sorry, I'm- emotional. I love you, so so much, I promise, I just- I'm gonna miss you guys! I'm gonna miss this place, somehow! I want to keep playing pranks with you Jacoby and I want to keep counting eyes for Axel but-" She takes a deep breath, gills flapping. "That's! Not how Blaseball is!

"I'll see you guys soon, I promise! I'll even tell the crabs to fuck off for you, Robbins, even though I really wanna make a good first impression, I- god. God. I'll play the best I can for you guys. I love you. Stay safe, please? Please. I will too."

The camera finally succumbs to the water, and the video statics out.

-

_hi._

_this is for both of you, so it's not gonna be fuckin titled, so if you're not jacoby or squid just fuck right off right now. now that that's over with: i went to one of your guys' games with axel._

_it was good to see you guys play, kind of. i'm not gonna fuckin lie about it and say that it wasn't kind of shitty to see all the crabs playing out there, but i didn't have to talk to any of them so! it ended up fine. it's whatever. you guys did really good._

_i'm letting axel write at the end of this letter because we don't wanna waste our paper writing two different letters, but he's not here right now so i can tell you guys about the stadium. it's not the same as ours was but it helped me still?? and it's really fucked up actually i don't know how i feel about it. i asked it to take me to the damn crabs locker room and it did and_

_and_

~~_i saw your guys' names on the lockers and i wanted to punch something or scream or something because you only get out on luck or if you're good and i have neither and god fucking dammit_ ~~

~~_i almost tore it up i almost tore it down i_ ~~

_i saw all the pregame rituals left out. like the tarot and astrology charts and shit, y'all are messy as all hell. clean the fuck up. carved some eyes into the walls on the way for axel, don't let anyone scratch them up. i was there to grab bevan's stuff really- that deer kid, the one that got shadowed for you, jacoby- sometime between ascension and down all the fridays moved their shit in there._

_inconvenient as all hell, if you ask me. but i was gonna be there_ _anyway_ _so i might as well have done it and i'm not going to lie bevan's like, fine. they told me to fuck off one time and i can respect a rude motherfucker so we're getting along._

_hearing you clawmentate in real time again was fuckin inspiring, jacoby, even if you absolutely fucking beefed it a little. crabs bad, i guess? ugh. uuuuugh if i ever say that stupid fuckin slogan again feel free to take out an umpire gun and shoot me_

_axel's back, so. he can remind me of all the ""important"" shit we have to tell you. we got an apartment together and that's fine, i guess, the ilb got sick of us not being able to put an address on our paperwork. apparently "car" or "the crabitat" isn't good enough for those assholes. bevan crashes on the couch sometimes_

_i miss you guys still. even if we can see each other now it isn't the same. maybe one day we'll be on an equal playing field again_ ~~_or at least axel will be i fuckin guess_ ~~ _axel made me cross that out because it's "too pessimistic." you guys already KNOW all my fucked up thoughts but i guess it's ""good"" to ""stay positive.""_

_i love you. both. don't eat all the food we left in here early. thanks for the hoodie, squid, it smells like seawater and it's not great but it's the closest to home i've felt in forever. the sleep mix is really good too, jacoby, feels like home. too. i hope the crabs are treating you guys well and if you don't write us back to say so i'm going to storm in there and beat the shit out of them with my bare fucking hands i swear to fucking go_

_My turn. It's Axel, now, Robbins was working kitself up with stress. You guys are busy with Blaseball, but maybe you could leave us a little note? We're worried. They seem nice enough, though._

_There's not much I can say that Robbins hasn't already, but I love you. My eyes are much more spread out across Baltimore, but there's still… not enough. Doesn't feel like enough. Could you guys carve a few for me?_

_The apartment is always over if you guys want to stay. We'll make dinner like we talked about doing. I'll teach you two how to cook._

_Love,_

_Axel_

_and robbins TOO bastard_

**Author's Note:**

> i ... love them is the thing  
> you can find me on tumblr @ catboydeicide and i would love to answer literally anything about these four. ever


End file.
